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Enterprise City welcomes The Farm Group to ABC

The Farm Group, a major media occupier, has confirmed it will open a 25,000 sq ft facility in The ABC Buildings at Allied London’s Enterprise City cluster.

The ABC Buildings, which feature Sixties architecture and characteristics, are being re-adapted to create a leading media hub in the heart of Manchester’s city-centre. The renovation will complement the existing ‘Old Granada’ television studios at St. John’s, which are being redeveloped and operated by ALL Studios. This cluster of studios and production facilities will create a new centre of excellence for media in the north.

International post-production house, The Farm Group is currently located in the nearby Riverside facility, which is also operated by ALL Studios. Farm Manchester will operate from this location while the ABC Buildings renovation work is underway. The Riverside studios comprise of 12 offline and two online suites, grading, and audio capability.

International content production destination

Of the new occupier, Michael Ingall, Allied London’s chief executive, said: “We set up All Studios in 2017 to revive the iconic television studios at St. John’s, since then we’ve seen a huge demand for city-centre media facilities. We’ve welcomed the likes of BBC, Netflix and Amazon to the site. The Farm Group’s move to The ABC Buildings – one of our key media hubs at Enterprise City – is of massive significance for the cluster and growing proof that the north will be an international destination for content production and talent.”

Farm Manchester is in full flow completing the post production on the next series of Ambulance for Dragonfly. They are also about to start work on series seven of Real Housewives of Cheshire for Monkey.

Paul Austin, managing director of Farm Manchester, told us: “The news about the Farm setting up in Manchester created a real buzz. We had many clients that wanted to work with us, before the big launch in October. Riverside is perfect for us as it allows us to work with some of these clients and start to build up work that can carry on and finish in the new building.”

Cutting-edge media facilities

In Farm Manchester’s new home at The ABC Buildings: offline, online, grade, VFX and audio facilities will be located on the same floor, alongside a 40-seat screening theatre. All facilities will be fully 4K/UHD SDR and HDR capable. Additionally, one of the four audio suites will be equipped to handle any Dolby Atmos requirements. The development also includes a roof terrace above the facility, for use by all Farm Manchester clients and other tenants in The ABC Buildings.

David Klafkowski, Farm Group CEO, said: “Our relationship with Allied London is important to us as we share the same goal in establishing Manchester city centre as a world class creative hub.”

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